Hairdressers Turn Informers?

From the Bangor Daily News, with thanks to Tom Karnofsky for the tip:

Maine is enlisting hairstylists in the ongoing effort to eliminate domestic abuse. The idea is that women often open up to their hairdressers, so they should be alert and report problems. "You build a trust with your stylist. They are the ones who are looking out for you," said Debra Krasniak of Cosmotech School in Westbrook, where a training session was held last month. "You tell your stylist a lot of things, and it becomes a safe place at times." ...

Sometimes controlling behavior can be spotted by a stylist, Krasniak said. "You might start offering a change [of hairstyle] and she says, 'No he would not like that,' or 'He would kill me if I cut my hair,"' she said. "You start to think there might be some control issues."

My gut and my brain do not agree on this one.

My gut says there's something creepy and unsettling about the government recruiting businesses to inform on their customers. The new practice would also seem to open up the possibility of massive misunderstandings and errors. For instance, if a customer says "My husband would kill me if I cut my hair," I'd bet that nine out of ten times, it's a mere figure of speech, with no actual bodily harm implied.

Thinking it through, though, I can't really fault the program as long as there's no obligation on the part of the hairdresser to pass on suspicions to officials. The article says:

The new program trains stylists to steer people who may be abused toward one of the state's nine domestic violence projects ... Stylists are supplied with literature to post in their shops, as well as nail files that have an organization's contact information.

If the program is limited to supplying information to women who might need it, I have no problem with it. Note, though, that the first paragraph explicitly mentions that hairdressers should report problems, presumably to the authorities. That's where I'd personally draw the line, though I'm willing to be persuaded of the foolishness of that position. Any Nobody's Business readers care to offer their thoughts?

Comments

[bgallagher]

If hairdressers are going to be mandated to report problems, salons are going to stop being the "safe places" Ms. Krasniac was speaking of.
Like you, I certainly don't have any problem with handing out information — hairdressers don't need a state program to do that now if the wish. But there will be problems if the Maine wants to turn stylists into domestic abuse cops. As a former family therapist working in the state of Illinois, I was legally required to report any abuse I suspected to the authorities whether the family wished me to or not. Not pretty for people who wanted to work out their problems without inviting the notoriously inept DCFS into their lives. If I failed to do so I could have been held liable for it.
At the very least though, at least I was a professional trained to understand and work with these situations as well as to make risk assessments. Hairdressers, I think, are trained to work on hair.

[Martin Owens]

And when your doctor, your lawyer, your banker, your dentist, your babysitter, your boss and your kids are all recruited as snoops and stool pigeons, when the guys who sell groceries and cut hair are auxiliary police with the power to ruin your life by one phone call, we'll just have such a swell society, won't we?

Everybody ratting everybody else out for the good of the society- that's what Stalin's Russia became.

Sure it's for a good cause. That's how they ALL start.

[K. Dale Boley]

I think you are being a bit guarded on this issue Rogier. It sounds to me like maybe you have a controlling partner. Is there something you want to tell me? Is that bruise on your arm really from a "fall"? Wait right there while I report this.

Wait until the "stylist" informs (incorrectly, lets assume) on one of their (soon to be previous) customers. The cops then turn this into a "no knock" warrant and bust into the home at 02:00 (that's AM, oh-dark thirty) and kill the family dog while seriously beating the husband nearly to death.

Later that week... oh, gee, we're sorry that you are not an abusive husband. Bye. Please support your local police!

(Can you tell that I read Radley's TheAgitator?)

[Kevin S.]

Just stepping stone to a mandate.

If a stylist suspects abuse, can't they already report it without being forced to do so? I'm not sure how this program changes anything, other than a first step towards mandatory reporting.

[Steve Ruarke]

I think ms.Krasniaks remarkes are to the point
and very percise.If a person goes to get their
hair done and tells the person doing their hair
about what's going on at home,and it's not very shall we say not very nice then it should
be reported right away no questions asked.
Debra Krasniak has a very good head on her
sholders and I hope she doesn't change.